The present invention generally relates to perspectives in a healthcare environment. In particular, the present invention relates to use of medical perspectives to improve medical image reading and workflow.
A clinical or healthcare environment is a crowded, demanding environment that would benefit from organization and improved ease of use of imaging systems, data storage systems, and other equipment used in the healthcare environment. A healthcare environment, such as a hospital or clinic, encompasses a large array of professionals, patients, and equipment. Personnel in a healthcare facility must manage a plurality of patients, systems, and tasks to provide quality service to patients. Healthcare personnel may encounter many difficulties or obstacles in their workflow.
A variety of distractions in a clinical environment may frequently interrupt medical personnel or interfere with their job performance. Furthermore, workspaces, such as a radiology workspace, may become cluttered with a variety of monitors, data input devices, data storage devices, and communication device, for example. Cluttered workspaces may result in efficient workflow and service to clients, which may impact a patient's health and safety or result in liability for a healthcare facility. Data entry and access is also complicated in a typical healthcare facility.
Healthcare environments, such as hospitals or clinics, include clinical information systems, such as hospital information systems (HIS) and radiology information systems (RIS), and storage systems, such as picture archiving and communication systems (PACS). Information stored may include patient medical histories, imaging data, test results, diagnosis information, management information, and/or scheduling information, for example. The information may be centrally stored or divided at a plurality of locations. Healthcare practitioners may desire to access patient information or other information at various points in a healthcare workflow. For example, during surgery, medical personnel may access patient information, such as images of a patient's anatomy, that are stored in a medical information system. Alternatively, medical personnel may enter new information, such as history, diagnostic, or treatment information, into a medical information system during an ongoing medical procedure.
Imaging systems are complicated to configure and to operate. Often, healthcare personnel may be trying to obtain an image of a patient, reference or update patient records or diagnosis, and ordering additional tests or consultation. Thus, there is a need for a system and method that facilitate operation and interoperability of an imaging system and related devices by an operator.
A reading, such as a radiology or cardiology procedure reading, is a process of a healthcare practitioner, such as a radiologist or a cardiologist, viewing digital images of a patient. The practitioner performs a diagnosis based on a content of the diagnostic images and reports on results electronically (e.g., using dictation or otherwise) or on paper. The practitioner, such as a radiologist or cardiologist, typically uses other tools to perform diagnosis. Some examples of other tools are prior and related prior (historical) exams and their results, laboratory exams (such as blood work), allergies, pathology results, medication, alerts, document images, and other tools.
Current systems use general techniques known as “hanging protocols” to format display of images, such as mammogram images. Hanging protocols present a single perspective or view to a user, such as a radiologist. Images may be grouped according to simple, non-procedure specific characteristics such as DICOM series or series number. Single perspectives typically provide all available images for a patient and/or study. Single perspectives are too general and often create additional work for a radiologist or other reviewer. Single perspectives are currently created based on general characteristics of a single instance of a procedure. However, the procedure characteristics may have different values for other instances of a procedure. Thus, a user, such as a radiologist, is often forced to manually format images upon display or create a new protocol altogether. Creation of a new protocol is often a time-consuming, manual task. Additionally, manual sorting or hanging of images is a time-consuming task. Therefore, a system and method for improved sorting and display of images for review would be highly desirable.
Thus, there is a need for a system and method to improve workflow and productivity using medical perspectives to improve image reading and medical workflow.